Gone are the days of the Titanic Division. Atlantic division has gone from being a doormat to being arguably the toughest division in the League. Unfortunately, this makes it tougher for the Raptors to remain competitive. Here is my professional opinion of how our beloved Dinos will stack up against the rest of the division: 1. Boston Celtics - The Cs have quietly had a very strong offseason. Sure they lost Ray Allen to Satan's team but they have made nice additions to make up for his absence. Most notably, Jason Terry. Last season Terry scored more than Allen and shot comparable percentages to Allen (except FT). He should more than make up Allen's loss. He will provide a good bench scoring threat. Avery Bradley looked great in the starting role and he will likely continue to get better. They also had a great draft. Sullinger only dropped due to injury concerns but he was a lottery talent otherwise. He should help the front line. Garnett looked like a beast in the playoffs and Pierce is still Peirce. Rondo could be the top point guard in the East with Rose's injury. 2. Brooklyn Nets - Made some great moves. Johnson should look good as a second option beside Dwill in a role that suits him. He is paid like a superstar but really is good second/third option and will excel on the Nets. Gforce is another good third banana guy type player. Lopez and Humpries complete the starting five. Bench depth and front court defense will be their biggest concerns. They went out a spent A LOT this summer and it should hopefully payoff immediately even if it may not be a great long term plan. 3. Philadelphia 76ers - Another team that made a huge splash. Bringing in the second best center in league is always a good move. He may leave in a season but he should help them immensely in the short term. I don't see him as a first option type player so Sixers could struggle to score times considering their lack of shooting. Loosing Iggy is also huge as he was a great play maker and one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner need to make big jumps this season for Philly to make some noise. I feel Turner will finally be able to flourish without Iggy there and the ball in his hands more. Their defense, which was their biggest strength recently, may be considered a weakness now due the lack of front court depth. They also lost their leading scorer but did add a streaky shooter in Nick Young. Scoring will likely be another weakness though. And it will be interesting to see if Bynum can fit into the run and gun offense Philly used to run with their athletic wings. 4. New York Knicks - Aaahh the enigmatic Knickerbockers. They could win the division, they certainly have the talent (maybe the best player in the division). However, chemistry will still be an issue. Melo, as good as he is, is a black hole and really hurts everyone around him. Amare wasn't great last season and I don't see any reason why he would get better without a good point guard to set him up. His defense is also awful (he will soon take over Joe Johnson's title of worst contract in the league imo). Chandler will likely continue to help the Knicks defense as will the return of Shumpert but defense will be an issue at the remaining positions. PG is another problem for them. Felton is out of shape and quite frankly, kinda bad. Kidd is a smart player but he's getting up there in age. 5. Toronto Raptors - Finally reach the Raps. I feel we will definitely improve with a full training camp under Casey, a healthy Bargs and the addition of Lowry. This is a contract year for Demar so he needs to step up and show that he is worth a fat contract. The additions of Ross and Val will be interesting to watch to say the least. Our front court strength remains a strength as we have four very capable players (Val, Bargs, Amir and Ed) and a solid filler guy in Gray. Point guard rotation is also very strong. Jose has shown historically that he is a great back up and had a pretty good Olympic tourney. Hopefully he ups his trade value this year. Lowry is obviously our biggest addition. He should considerably improve our perimeter defense and create opportunities on the drive and kick. Our wings are definitely biggest areas of concerns. Demar has shown flashes but he definitely needs more consistency in his shooting and show improvement in his handles and defense. Ross is a rookie and will likely have his ups and downs. Klieza looked good in the playoffs and can hopefully stop being a walking turnover. Fields is other big addition to the team. We can only guess as to which Fields we get. The rookie Fields was confident shooter and great rebounder and finisher. Second year Fields was streaky and looked below average at best. How much of that blame falls on Melo? He looked pretty good playing with Lin when Melo was hurt so I'm going to be optimistic and say he can return to form. However, BC definitely needs to do something to improve the wing situation. Tl;dr version: Celtics, Nets and 76ers have reloaded and improved. NYK are always a mystery. Raptors will improve but will still be looking up from the bottom of the division. Thoughts? Criticism? Random dreams?
